Bonsai Forum

TOPIC: Automated drip system

I was wondering how different people water their trees when they go out of town? I have always had a friend do it, but as of late I was wondering if i shouldn't build an automated drip system. This is obviously not the ideal way to water, but could get the job done for a week or two. So if anyone has any experience with successfully setting one up please let me know, and feel free to post some pics. Also on another note, what is your preferred method of watering, water wand on the house, or garden can and if so whats your favorite brand? No wrong answer here, just wondering if someone does it better.

My trees are on an automatic watering system. I have a programable power strip that has seven "programs"/times to turn on or off during the day. It can be set by the minute whereas the non-digital ones have those 15 minute ticker things you punch in to set the timer. I used to have it water mine several times a day for 15 minutes, but have recently set it to only water them once a day for 15 minutes.

I've had them on this system at least since last Christmas, and only need to refill the reservoir every 3-4 days. I've taken 4 day weekends without having to worry about my trees as long as I make sure the reservoir is totally or slightly over-filled before I leave.

That sounds awesome. I left my trees in the care of a friend for a month and came back to my boxwood and japanese maple in a near death state. I'm still not sure if my maple will make it. Being in the military causes me to leave home pretty frequently for varied times so I need to look into this.

I imagine my method of watering is quite different than everyone else's. My water/nutrient reservoir is below the plant pot in a sealed 2liter soda bottle with a 1/2" tube running into the bottom of my pots. There is an air hose sticking into the reservoir that runs into the bottom of the planter pot. When the timer goes on, it powers the air pump which fills the reservoir full of air and pumps the water up into the pot. Once all the water is up there, air starts perculating into the bottom of the pot. Once the timer goes off, the water drains back into the reservoir. If anyone is interested, I can post pictures and explainations.

You could also probably set up an automatic drip feed system which would be closer to the normal way of watering. Theres plenty of stuff on a drip feed system on youtube:

Thanks Stiple, that sounds interesting, I'm just not into recirculating systems for outdoor purposes. The reservoir gets too hot and as a result of the recirculating, it breeds root pythium and pathogens. Recirculation is more for indoor use and is too high maintenance for as many trees as I have. I am looking to build an automated system much like a sprinkler system, with maybe an inline filter.

I figured no one here would want their to re-circulate. I figured a non circulating watering system could be powered and ran in the same fashion (with timers), but would need to be done a little bit different. Probably somehow similar to automated lawn sprinklers, but of course you'd have to plan for how often your trees actually need watering. I'd love to see your implementation, please update us when you build it.

hi , I have had my Bonsais on an automated timer for years now. Mine is a simple manual timer, easily programmed and connected to the house water. I set it according to the weather conditions, twice a day for 20 mins when hot, once a day when cold, off when raining, shut off when snowing. I fertilize by hand every 2 weeks, and spot water on hot days.